CND Shellac Nail Art - Rock Royalty, Skulls and Glitter Fade

This is another one from a while back... October off the top of my head... and Gemma's friend Becky. Becky has an affinity for skulls so out came the stamping plates and the Konad polish.

She loved Rock Royalty on my swatches so we vamped it up a little with a purple glitter fade using the Gosh Nail Glitter in Amethyst Purple (I think I mixed it with CND Shellac Mother of Pearl for the glitter paste). Before adding the top coat and without removing the sticky layer, I stamped a skull and crossbones onto Becky's ring fingers and thumbs. I used the design from the M28 plate using the Konad Special Polish in White.

It's a shame that the glitter fade didn't photograph so well, it gave a really subtle purple shimmer, but I've included a flash and no flash photo above so you hopefully get the gist.

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :) 

CND Shellac Nail Art - Tropix Hawaiian Print

Without Flash

With Flash

What? I hear you say. A Shellac manicure on myself?? Yup! Indeed it is. Sometimes I spend so long doing manicures for friends and family that I never get round to doing myself too. So a couple of weekends ago, a family 'Hawaiian' themed BBQ gave me the perfect excuse to try out a little nail art.

When I looked at my collection, nothing screamed tropical more than Tropix so I mixed it up with a little Cream Puff on my ring finger and some Konad stamping too. I did have the honest intention of hand drawing some hibiscus flowers but I just ran out of time got lazy.

So instead I used the Konad Special Polish  in Pink to stamp the double hibiscus flowers from the M29 plate and then sealed with Shellac Top Coat. You can buy Konad from their website here.

Tropix has to be one of my favourite Shellac colours but it just doesn't photograph well. The flash photo is probably the closest as it picks up the almost neon quality of the pink, whereas although the non-flash photo bears no true resemblance to the real life colour, it does nicely pick out the orange hue from Tropix.

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :) 

CND Shellac Wildfire Experimentation

CND Shellac Wildfire with Red Caviar Pearls

CND Shellac Wildfire with Blackpool heart nail art

CND Shellac Wildfire with White Konad Stamping and Diamanté nail art

CND Shellac Wildfire with White Konad Stamping and Diamanté nail art

Some more Shellac for you this evening, but this time it's a bit of a Wildfire dedication... These manicure's are from a couple of months ago I just never got around to posting them. Bad blogger!

Anyway, the top two photos are Natalie (I'm sure your recognise the enviably long natural talons!) in preparation for her Turkey holiday. She wanted Wildfire but with a little something extra so we experimented with caviar pearls (cheap ones not Ciaté) first - 1st photo above, but she found them too bulky and we took them off before curing. We played around a little more, and in the end she settled for a subtle black hearts detail on her ring finger - 2nd photo above - which I created with the fine end of a dotting tool and Shellac Blackpool.

The 3rd and 4th photo above come from Stacey's sister Gemma. I offered to do Gemma's nails for Stacey's hen do because she had already had gel extensions applied but the nail art (yellow/blue leopard print) didn't match her outfit. So I buffed off the nail art (which had been done in acrylic paint) and painted her extensions in Wildfire. Like Natalie, she wanted something more, so after browsing my Konad plates, she picked out this little flower design and asked for a diamanté in the middle. I stamped using Konad's special polish in White and added the diamanté before applying top coat and curing.

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac - French Manicure with a twist

 It's been a long time since I posted some Shellac french manicures, so here two come along at once! But with a slight twist of course....

CND Shellac Beau and Cream Puff with silver Konad Stamping

CND Shellac Strawberry Smoothie and Cream Puff with pink glitter swash

Let me introduce you to my friend Maddie, who I am bridesmaid for later this Summer (check out the sparkler on that finger!). She had heard about me doing Shellac so I offered to show her what it's like and see if she too would catch the gel-polish bug!

Both times I have done her nails, she has opted for classic french manicure, but Maddie being Maddie, could not leave it at that and so we added a couple of extra little twists to make them her own.

First time round, I used one coat of Beau for the base colour and then added one coat of Cream Puff for the tips. She got a little excited over my vast array of Konad designs and decided on three different stamps to use. So before I added top coat, I stamped the hearts and stars designs from the M3 plate onto alternate fingers, using my Konad silver polish. On the thumbs (not pictured) I stamped the butterfly design from the M68 plate, again in the silver special polish. Finally I added top coat and I was done. I quite like that the stamps aren't hugely noticeable until you look closely.

Second time round, she wanted french again but wanted 'the pink more pink'. So we went for two coats of Strawberry Smoothie before adding one coat of Cream Puff for the tips. She decided that glitter was the way to go this time, so we picked out my GOSH nail glitter in Rose Quartz. Then, instead of just applying top coat, I mixed it with a little of the pink nail glitter in a palette and then used a nail art brush to apply it to the nails. So the top coat had the effect of a glitter sprinkling in it. I like the way that the glitter is picked out in the light but it's not too much so that the nails are overly 'glitzy'.

Of course, both looks are easily created with normal polish too - they just won't last quite as long!

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Iced Cappuccino and Konad Stamping

Hello lovely people! I have another Shellac and Konad experiment to share with you this evening as modelled by the lovely Stacey of course! After the success of my last manicures (here and here) Konad and Shellac is proving to be quite a pairing with my friends and family!

The theme she really wanted to focus on was a 'tribal' style manicure so this time we had a little browse of my Konad plates and picked out the fantastic designs you can see above. In terms of colour we were a little limited as Shellac is pretty lacking in the yellow/green/blue department for a colourful tribal pattern, so we kept it more elegant but just as intricate with simple black and gold.

For the base I used two coats of CND Shellac in Iced Cappuccino (see a swatch here) curing for 2 minutes after both. I then used my Konad Special Polish in Black and the repeating frame pattern from the S6 plate to stamp onto the thumb, middle and little finger. Then I again used the polish with the circular pattern from the S6 plate to stamp onto the first and ring finger. Once the Konad polish had dried, I added a black French manicure tip to the first and ring finger, cured for 2 minutes, then applied top coat to all nails and cured for a final 2 minutes. Voila!

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Purple Purple and Konad Stamping

Now for the second CND Shellac post of the evening, as promised, in my last post here.

Stacey was also due for another 'shellacking' (in fact, I spent the afternoon at Nat's so I could do both hers and Stacey's together) and she wanted something a bit more glam for her hen do later that week. She decided to go with Purple Purple, Konad Stamping in white and a swash of purple glitter. Very glitzy indeed!

So to recreate the look... apply Shellac as you normally would - P.E.P, Shellac base coat, 2 coats of Shellac Purple Purple. Then after curing the second Purple Purple coat, I used my Konad polish in White to stamp the diamond design from the M14 plate. I then stamped around it with the sparkle design on the same plate to add some glamour! The Konad special polish dries really quickly so I didn't need to wait at all to apply the glitter swash. Instead of just applying top coat, I mixed it with a little GOSH Nail Glitter in Purple Amethyst in a palette and then used a nail art brush to apply it to the nails. So the top coat had the effect of a glitter sprinkling in it.

Again, a design you could also try with normal polish. Enjoy!

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Studio White and Konad Stamping

It's been a while since my last CND Shellac post, so I have a couple for you this evening, both involving some more Konad Stamping, after the success of my initial Konad and Shellac experiment (that I posted about here).

Nat was due for another 'shellacking' and decided to go for something a little more girly, but would go with most outfit choices for the fortnight. So she chose Studio White with Konad Stamping in pink and a swash of silver glitter. I think it turned out rather well, and I like the minimal stamping on just the ring finger.

So to recreate the look... apply Shellac as you normally would - P.E.P, Shellac base coat, 2 coats of Shellac Studio White. Then after curing the second Studio White coat, I used my Konad polish in Pink to stamp the bow design from the M38 plate. I stamped it around two to three times on the nail to create almost a 'wallpaper' of bows and mini hearts. The Konad special polish dries really quickly so I didn't need to wait at all to apply the glitter swash. Instead of just applying top coat, I mixed it with a little GOSH Nail Glitter in Silver in a palette and then used a nail art brush to apply it to the nails. So the top coat had the effect of a glitter sprinkling in it.

Again, a design you could also try with normal polish. Enjoy!

Disclaimer - All products used for this manicure were bought myself, for more info about myself and CND Shellac please check out my disclaimer page here. I might not be a professional, but I sure love me some Shellac nail art :)

CND Shellac Nail Art - Blackpool and Konad Stamping

Whoa! Long time no post! Oh dear I have been slacking!

Well you'll be pleased to hear I am currently manicuring as I post and have a small back log of other CND Shellac manicures to show you. But for now, the look that I have literally just soaked off!

CND Shellac in Blackpool with Konad Stamping in gold.

This started as an experiment, to see how well I could mix Shellac and Konad - and as it turns out, very well indeed! I will DEFINITELY be doing more of this in the future.

So what did I do? Well I applied as I would any normal Shellac manicure - P.E.P, Shellac base coat, 2 coats of Shellac Blackpool. Then after curing the second Blackpool coat, I used my Konad polish in Gold to stamp a swirly design from the M64 plate. I was initially worried that my Shellac top coat would smear the stamp once applied, but Konad polishes dry so quickly, that I shouldn't have worried. I managed to apply top coat and do my final cure without any hassle at all!

So a very elegant result don't you think? I LOVE it and will certainly be trying out a few more stamping designs soon...

Have you tried CND Shellac and Konad together?

*** UPDATE: I've entered into my first Nail art competition too! After doing this stamping design, I saw Enamel Girl's Spring Nail Art Stamping Contest so I had to enter - check out the other designs here.
It's also worth following enamelgirl.blogspot.com for some amazing nail posts!